Photo: Justefrain · CC BY-SA 3.0Commerce’s library runs 66 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
City of Commerce Public Library serves Commerce’s 12,124 residents from 3 locations. Last year it lent 43K books, movies and e-books and logged 53K visits.
What Commerce’s library is like
More library cards than residents
34,824 cards for 12,124 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Twice the programs of a typical library its size
City of Commerce Public Library ran 799 programs last year, about 15 a week. That’s 66 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 23,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Commerce invests in its library
City of Commerce Public Library spends $286 per resident a year, about seven times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (88%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
City of Commerce Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
City of Commerce Public Library holds 102,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
What’s behind Commerce’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Commerce is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns, #213 of 448 in California. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($58K–$96K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Commerce
3.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.1%
2.1% of Commerce’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.9% in the typical California town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Commerce’s residents live; 2022.
About 6 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Commerce last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
City of Commerce Public Library serves 12,124 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
43K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 102K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
13,055 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
3 places to borrow in Commerce
City of Commerce Rosewood Library, 5655 Jillson St., Commerce.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Commerce? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Commerce
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Commerce cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $3.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $881K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.5M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 34,824 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Commerce ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Central Library fine-free | 6.7 | 57 | D |
| Commerce | City of Commerce Rosewood Library | 3.5 | 43 | C |
| Downey | Downey City Library | 1.6 | 54 | D |
| Montebello | Montebello Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| East Los Angeles | East Los Angeles Library fine-free | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| Bell | Bell Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Bell Gardens | Bell Gardens Library fine-free | — | 40 | D− |
| Vernon | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. City of Commerce Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Commerce
Does Commerce have a public library?
Yes. City of Commerce Public Library, 5655 Jillson St., serves Commerce’s 12,124 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is City of Commerce Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Commerce’s library?
It logged 4.4 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Commerce’s civic life grade?
C Commerce is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns on civic life, #213 of 448 in California. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Commerce.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.